So why is Rancid’s Life Won’t Wait on this best 1,000 albums ever thing?
Life Won’t WLife Won’t Wait is a massive punk-rock record: 22 songs, 64 minutes, and full of ambition.
It’s massive in different kinds of ways. It takes “big swings,” it’s got some strange and quasi-experimental tracks, and it’s wildly rangy in terms of its sound: much like The Clash (clearly Tim Armstrong’s and Rancid’s heroes and forefathers in many ways), Rancid starts from a punk rock base and then will go far and eclectically afield.
Not everything on Life Won’t Wait completely works, but most of it does, and it’s an awfully exciting and satisfying ride all told.
If you’re looking for the version of Rancid that you’re familiar with from earlier albums like Let’s Go and …And Out Come The Wolves, start with tracks like “Bloodclot” and “1998.” This is terrific, classic Rancid that you can never go wrong with.
But then stop by the title track, “Life Won’t Wait,” and “Crane Fist” when you’re ready for a stranger, less traveled path. “Life Won’t Wait” plays around with reggae and something bordering on hip hop, while “Crane Fist” builds off a zany, looping bass line, jangling piano, and kind of an odd call and response thing… and somehow it all falls into place and it’s great.
“Leicester Square” would have fit in just fine packed into the end of …And Out Come The Wolves (a huge compliment as that album is just brilliant). Quick story here: Life Won’t Wait the album was released in 1998, the same year that I packed off from New York and lived in England for six months.
I lived outside of London with two great college friends (Adam and Nirav), and was lucky enough to have a number of other friends stop by on various post-collegiate European travels. Therefore, I became familiar enough with central London that I was able to take first time visitors on walking tours, and could ably enough navigate around the likes of Piccadilly Circus and Leicester Square (Lester Square, it’s pronounced for Yank readers not familiar) and such.
I mention all of this because there’s something about the Rancid song, “Leicester Square,” that takes me back to that time and place. That’s one of the fascinating things about music and art: once it’s out in the world everyone can make their own sense and meaning from it as they like.
“Who Would’ve Thought” and “Corazon De Oro” are two of the most beautiful songs – and yes, they’re still very much punk rock songs! – that Rancid has ever produced, and shows off how mature their songwriting and musical craftsmanship had become by this point.
Does anybody out there got a soul?
‘Cause I’m just looking for the girl
The girl with a heart of gold
Some stats & info about Rancid’s Life Won’t Wait
- What kind of musical stylings does this album represent? Punk Rock, Rock Music, SF Bay Area Bands, Punk Revival, Ska Punk
- Rolling Stone’s greatest 500 albums ranking – not ranked!
- All Music’s rating – 3.5 out of 5 stars
- When was Life Won’t Wait released? 1998
- My ranking, the one you’re reading right now – #270 out of 1,000
Rancid’s Life Won’t Wait on Spotify
A lyrical snippet from Rancid’s Life Won’t Wait that’s evocative of the album in some way, maybe
Who would’ve thought that the dreams come true? And who would’ve thought I ended up with you?
What does the “best 1,000 albums ever” mean and why are you doing this?
Yeah, I know it’s audacious, a little crazy (okay, maybe a lot cray cray), bordering on criminal nerdery.
But here’s what it’s NOT: a definitive list of the Greatest Albums of All-Time. This is 100% my own personal super biased, incredibly subjective review of what my top 1,000 albums are, ranked in painstaking order over the course of doing research for nearly a year, Rob from High Fidelity style. Find out more about why I embarked on a best 1,000 albums ever project.